It is 4:25 AM on Friday October 26th, 2018. I woke up at three o’clock and could not go back to sleep. So I got up, did my morning chores and now have the TV fireplace with its peaceful morning music on and the Amish fireplace is on as well. It has been a long time since I’ve been up so early with a lot of time to do as I wish.
Normally if I had this much time I would workout but today my cousin has just flown into town and we’re doing a very early breakfast. If I were to workout then I’d need a shower and would wake everyone up. It is good to take a moment to relax and enjoy the peaceful morning, especially since my life has been an absolute blur with the new job.
I’ll start with my Wednesday. The big boss is in town to join us on sales calls. This would be my boss’s boss’s boss so three levels up. He was to join me first and the day started with that gorgeous moon setting in my previous post. I thought this was a good omen and the day started with me being very relaxed and confident.
I soon got an e-mail that his flight was delayed and so I had some extra time on my hands. I dropped off my son at school then headed down to San Jose where I was to pick him up at the airport. Since I had time I thought I’d go by T-Mobile to pick up one of the Halloween buckets they were giving away for the T-Mobile Tuesday ‘thanking.’ It takes an hour to get to San Jose and since I had drunk so much coffee really had the urge to pee.
The first gas station I saw was a Valero. Now, one should never stop at a Valero as they’re the worst gas stations in the world. They are all those car maintenance type places, rarely with a bathroom you can use and their store is always terrible. But I had been waiting to pee a while so took my chances.
Since there were no parking spots I took a spot right in front of the pump. I asked if there was a restroom and he said “Only for customers!” I told him I was definitely a customer and so got to use their very dirty restroom. I bought a Snickers, Red Bull (which I should never drink) and a car wash. I went through the car wash but it suddenly stopped just after applying the soap!
The attendant came in and told me I could not use the car wash due to my bike rack up top. He said the wash rags would get stuck and he asked me if I could take it off. I let him know that it was not easy to get off and I couldn’t do so anyway as I’m dressed for work! He asked again, are you sure you cannot take it off. No, I cannot take it off since it takes about 15 minutes, I would get my work clothes dirty and right before picking up the big boss!
So there I was with a soapy RAV, on a very important day with no apparent solution. Sometimes I think life is a type of simulation/game where we’re the characters and the players throw obstacles in our way at whim. I’d never had a car wash stopped just after being soaped, let alone on such an important day.
Anyway, I pulled out of the car wash and he used the water hose that is found next to the air pump to rinse off my car. You would think he would have a better car wash in the first place instead of constantly worrying about a cars attachments causing a problem.
I then went to the T-Mobile store to pick up one of the Halloween buckets they were giving away for the T-Mobile Tuesday “thanking.” There was a huge security guard who blocked the entrance but didn’t say anything. He asked what I was doing. Obviously I’m trying to go bowling you dufus! I told him I was here for the T-Mobile Tuesday Halloween Bucket.
He then told me “the store is closed.” Ok, great, you could have said that first with an apology that the store is closed. He said there was a sign but the sign was on the door and the door was wide open in such a way that the sign wasn’t easily seen. I guess they don’t hire security guards for their customer service skills.
Since I still had a lot of time I tried one more T-Mobile store and they were out. They told me I could try some other places but I wasn’t about to drive all over San Jose for a 40 cent Halloween bucket so gave up.
I picked up the big boss around noon, had one meeting and feel the day went very well. I was relaxed the entire time and had open, frank, conversations with him.
When I got home I felt I deserved a few glasses of wine and since the family wasn’t home yet I did partake. What happened next was unexpected and that was a Thomas the Train toy which was sitting all by itself on the floor decided to start talking. “I’m a really useful engine,” and other sentences started to come from it.
Now, we’re pretty sure we have a ghost here. There have been toys that talk out of nowhere before as well as lights slightly dimming etc. The most interesting occasion was when the toy phone said hello to me in the middle of the night just after I had opened my eyes.
So I wondered if it were the ghost and since I had some wine decided to try talking to it. Boy did Thomas really light up then, in fact he didn’t stop talking.
“On track and on time.”
“I’m a really useful engine.”
Engine sounds
I would then ask specific questions and it went silent. So I went over to do the dishes and it started up again. I walked over to it and it was silent. Then my son opened the door and walked into the house and Thomas started right back up again.
I then learned that my son Ren had taken a hard fall on the sidewalk and had some nasty scrapes on his face. It was the worst he has been hurt so far. I wondered if perhaps this was the ghost giving me a warning not to get too angry for the wife not paying enough attention or my son falling yet again (he scraped his knees just the week before). He should not have been running up and down the sidewalk next to the karate dojo because the chances are 90% he will fall there and so the wife should have been paying better attention because I know she was just talking with the other Japanese moms there and not watching what was going on.
So was it a ghost or just some big coincidence that Thomas the Train started to talk out of know where at a time when my son had been hurt? To keep me guessing Thomas would say some things during dinner and also after we had gone to bed. Eventually I got up and turned it off.
Well, that is enough for this post.
